André Franquin (January 3, 1924 – January 5, 1997) was a Belgian cartoonist, perhaps best known for his humorous comic strip creation Gaston and the Marsupilami. He also worked on the Spirou comic strip for many years, which are still seen by some as a golden age.

Profile

He began his career with fellow artists Peyo and Morris, who would also go on to become renowned. He took over the Spirou strip in 1946, and largely reinvented it, creating longer, more elaborate storylines and a plethora of burlesque characters.

Most notable is the Marsupilami, which was inspired by seeing busy tram conductors on his way into work with his colleagues. This fictional animal has become part of (French? Franco-Belgian? European) popular culture, and has spawned cartoons, a comic book series of its own and merchandise. The cartoons have broadened its appeal to English-speaking countries.

In 1957 he created anti-hero Gaston Lagaffe as a joke. The weekly strip, detailing the mishaps and madcap ideas and inventions of a terminally idle office boy took off, and became Franquin's best-known creation. He continued work on the strip until his death.

Later Gaston strips sometimes included themes important to Franquin: pacifism and the environment.

His Ideés Noires (lit. "Dark Thoughts") strips concentrated on these themes, and showed a darker, alarmed side of his nature. In one strip [1], a pair of flies are seen wandering a strange looking landscape, discussing the mistakes of their predecessors. In the final box, we see the landscape is a city made from human skulls, and one fly says "don't be too hard on them, they did leave us such splendid cities".

See also

• Gaston Lagaffe
• Spirou et Fantasio
• Franco-Belgian comics artists

External links

• Biography of Franquin - part of The official Gaston Lagaffe website
• Franquin chronology - part of the same site
• Official site in French